Fated Zero Ch 1
by Lord of the Magi
Summary: A new hero is called into the fray of the Grail War. The Throne of Heroes isn't limited to just Earth's heroes. Can the world handle both the Heaven's feel and a cranky Void Mage? Some OOC and mild AU. Temporarily on hiatus.


Fated Zero

**Disclaimer :Not mine, never said it was please don't Lawyer me.**

**A/N: I am going to be playing very loosely with canon in this story using the bits and pieces I like from each story line. Things will get a bit OOC and very AU so consider yourselves warned ahead of time.**

Chapter One: What Goes Around Comes Around

The Throne of Heroes is the kind of place that simple mortals cannot possible hope to imagine in its entirety. It is the place where all heroes past present and future go when they die to honor their great deeds in life. It is a place similar to what many religions have promised to their followers. One of the closest descriptions that comes to mind would be the great Valhalla of Norse mythology. The only problem with this comparison lies in the inner workings of the two places. In Valhalla the great Heroes fight to the death all day only to be brought back to life at the end for a great feast each night for all of eternity. The throne of heroes is a place of peace and well earned rest for particularly well know heroes, anti-heroes, and a small collection of slightly paradoxical counter guardians. There are few things that can interrupt the tranquility of the throne to call a hero back into service. Unless you happen to be a counter guardian, once a hero's spirit makes it to the throne they get to stay there. In recent history the Mages Association has come up with another way to make use of the great heroes of legend.

Three great families, the Tōsaka, Einzbern, and Matō clans gathered together to create an all powerful artifact with the power to grant any single wish to its holder. To obtain the grail, it was decided that seven mages would summon seven powerful servants to do battle to decide who would be deemed worthy. Each of the seven mages would call fourth a heroic spirit that best fit one of seven classes. Saber, Archer, Caster, Rider, Berserker, Lancer and Assassin, became the classes with inherent strengths and weaknesses just like the heroes that would fill the slot. Servants can be called forward using one of two criteria. First case and most reliable would be to use an artifact that had some meaning to the hero the summoner wished to call forward. The second and most common way that one would summon a Heroic Spirit would be to call blindly and have someone assigned that best fit your need or personality.

At the start of the fifth Holy Grail War one particularly shy girl was attempting the latter. Using the array and procedure set forth by her grandfather, Sakura Matō preformed the ritual to the best of her ability and successfully brought a being into the center of the circle.

"Damn it girl can't you do anything right? I told you to try for Assassin that is definitely not an assassin." The shriveled old 'man' spat at the girl while pointing a particularly gnarled finger at the person who had just been called.

The person in the center of the circle was indeed far from any type of assassin. She was a fairly short woman only standing around 5'5" even in her knee high riding boots. Her features were distinctly European looking with an aristocratic air about her. What stood out the most about the woman in the circle wasn't her small stature or criticizing eyes; it was the head of bright pink hair and the large sword on her back. "I am servant Caster. I ask you are you my master?" The woman asked with a distinct sound of distaste.

"How could you summon a weak servant like caster. My chances of winning this thing are over before the fight even begins." The pinkette servant shot the offending blue haired kid a well practiced scowl.

"I ask again miss are you my master?" She was clearly trying to ignore the annoying voices not belonging to the girl.

"Ye… yes I am the one who summoned you. Please do not be upset." The quiet girl showed her hand with her newly formed command seals clearly printed on them.

"Very well then I will do my best to see you to victory in this endeavor. I swear it on my honor as a noble."

"That will not be necessary young lady," interrupted the prune. "Shinji will be your master throughout the duration on the Grail War."

"Who are you to order a noble of high standing like me around you decrepit bag of bones! The familiar summoning ritual is a sacred act. I admit that I never expected to be on the other end of it but I swear by the Pentagon of the Five Elements that if you presume to try and order me about again I will end your pathetic existence."

"I am afraid that you do not have much of a choice. Sakura is already transferring her command seal over to him as we speak, and the correct term is servant not familiar."

Sure enough a remorseful looking Sakura was writing something in an ominous feeling tome held by the arrogant boy from before. As soon as she finished the final mark the woman felt herself quickly cut off from a power source that she hadn't noticed until it was gone. The markings on the other girl's hand faded as well until there was nothing left but a faint watermark of the former symbols.

"Let's see what we have to work with Shinji, bring the book over here."

**Class Designation: Caster**

**Name:?**

**Master: Shinji Matō proxy for Sakura Matō **

**Strength: C- (Reduced)**

**Magical Energy: A-(Reduced)**

**Endurance: C (Reduced)**

**Luck: D (Reduced)**

**Noble Phantasm: (?) (Reduced)**

**Independent Action: (B+) (Increased out of necessity)**

**Charisma: (C+)**

**Agility: C (Reduced)**

**Magic Absorption: (B) (Reduced) (Trained skill)**

"Interesting, your skills are quite admirable for a caster. Though, apparently I have something to be desired with the magical ability of my grandchildren. What is your name miss?"

"Caster is good enough for you for now. I do not think that you would have heard of me anyway. I judge by your appearance and speech mannerisms that we are in Japan sometime around the turn of the century?"

"The Grail should have given you that information, but I will humor you and tell you that this is the year 2005 and you are in Fuyuki City. Now I suggest you start doing as you are told before I leave you hear with my worms to learn who your betters are."

"I'll be sure to let you know if I see any of them. As to those filthy constructs of yours that I feel swarming around the edges of the light, I would advise keeping them away from me if you care for them at all."

"Listen here you bitch, you will do as I tell you to do!" Shinji didn't have time to think before he was thrown across the dank cellar by a magical explosion. He didn't even have time to steady himself before the woman's sword was at his throat.

"Hear my words boy, I may not look much older than you but I have seen and done things throughout my life that would make you shit yourself. I am so many leagues above your comparison that you might as well be one of those disgusting worms that the old man seems to favor. Tread on my honor as a noble again and I will make sure the other teams never have a chance to get to you. If you have need of me, please hesitate to call." Tossing her hair over her shoulder the woman transitioned to her astral from and left. The arrogant boy turned his rising fury onto his sister.

"This is all your fault! If you weren't such a failure you would have been able to summon a proper obedient servant." He raised his hand to slap the lavender haired girl before he felt a tremendous pain in his arm. Looking to see what had happened, he once again saw the pink haired with sword in hand. She was holding the sword with the flat edge pointing at him.

"Next time you go to strike my true master you will wind up with much more than a broken hand. Be glad that you summoned me instead of my familiar. He isn't as lenient on trash as I am. Come on Sakura let's remove you from these distasteful people. If you are unhappy with me as a familiar then tear up that book and summon your own 'servant.'" The woman carefully helped the shaking girl to her feet and lead her up the stairs to the house proper.

"Shinji you disappoint me greatly. You are going to have to learn to control your temper with that one. I do not yet know who she was in life but she appears to have been a very proud woman of high standing. The command seal that book contains will give you some control over her actions but her independent action is still high enough to be dangerous. If you mess this chance up, I highly doubt that you will get a second chance."

"Yes grandfather I will do better from here on out." Shinji left the room cradling his injured hand.

***BREAK***

"Hey Sakura it's dawn time to get up if you are going to see that boyfriend of yours before school."

"Ahhh, sempai is not my boyfriend Caster san." The girl went from asleep to beat red in record time. "I just like to help him in the mornings. It can be a chore to prepare enough food to feed Fujimura Sensei in the mornings. Especially if he fell asleep in his shed again. He was very distracted yesterday helping the class president so that is probably where he is."

"I have had a few relationships myself over the years and I am pretty sure that you would not go through the effort if you didn't have a thing for the guy."

"Even if I do like him like that he doesn't notice me in that way." Caster suddenly became distracted.

"I am sorry to have to cut our talk short Sakura but your idiot brother is calling me. If he winds up using up this command seal somehow don't give him another. I promise I will protect you from anything they might try to do to you, I just need the freedom to act against him." With a small crack Caster was gone. Sakura thought about trying to catch up with the servant to ask what she meant by her remark, but needed to hurry if she was going to cook breakfasts for him and make it to school on time.

***BREAK***

"You rang oh mighty master?" The sarcasm in her voice was more than enough for even the vain boy to notice it through the otherwise pleasant words.

"Yes I did servant. I am about to be going to school and I want you to follow behind me."

"Is that all you want from me?"

"I also want you to be on the lookout for any other masters or servants at the school. I am pretty sure that there will be at least one more there. Try to see what you can find out about a girl named Rin Tohsaka. I'll point her out to you once we get to the school."

***BREAK***

"That girl with the twin pony tails is Tohsaka she is from another family of magi around the area. Grandfather said that her father was part of the last year as was my father. There is a good chance that she could be a threat. See what you can find out about her and if she managed to summon another servant."

"As you wish." Caster walked off into the school following her target at as great a distance as she could manage without losing track of the other girl. She could already tell that the girl was a talented mage by the aura of residual magic she radiates. She could also feel another much weaker mage somewhere in the building on this floor. Realizing that she was not likely to find out much new information during the class hours, Caster made a mental note of the area and wandered out into school grounds to get look around the grounds. Her familiar had not lied when he said that Earth was very different from Halkeginia there are so many more people here than in her own homeland. She decided to teleport herself up onto the roof of the main school building to see if she could get a better look of the surrounding land.

"It's about time you made it up here I have been watching you wander around down there for nearly an hour." Caster spun around to meet the gaze of a man with an odder sense of fashion than her own familial had once sported. There stood a tall man with short white hair and tanned skin in a red and black ankle length coat that covered what seemed to be matching light armor.

"So there is another servant here after all. Are you going to want to fight me now?" Her hand rested on the hilt of her sword.

"As much as I would like to cross blades with you Caster I am afraid that my master has given me explicit orders to "stay out of trouble today." Thanks to certain circumstances, going against such a direct order would prove unpleasant for me. I could only fight you if you attacked first. "

"That is a relief I did not want to have to put the students in danger. How did you know that I was caster anyway? I could have easily been Saber or Rider."

"Saber or Rider would have needed another method of getting to the roof top. That was quite the trick you pulled off there. Instant transport is borderline sorcery. You must have been one heck of a mage in life."

"I learned it from a friend. I owe him most of what I became. Unfortunately, you have me at a disadvantage sir might I ask your name? You obviously aren't Assassin or Berserker, but given your outfit you could still be any of the three knight classes. "

"I might be willing to divulge that information to you but it would cost you something in return."

"What pray tell would I know that would be of use to you?"

"You could tell me the identity of your master for starters. That would make my job much easier."

"His name is Shinji Mato, about 5'7" blue hair arrogant attitude and if I heard correct vice-captain to the archery club. I could give you his basic itinerary if you want."

"My aren't you a disloyal servant? I would never rat out my master like that just to learn that I was talking to a lowly bowman."

"Maybe I am just hoping that you will kill him when I am not looking. He has served me a great injustice."

"Don't tell me he used his Command Seal to make you service him at his whim."

"Worse, he insulted me and beats his sister. There may be other things but I don't have any proof yet." Apparently the last part of her complaint caught the attention of the red knight.

"I might have to look into this matter then. I can't believe he would insult such a beautiful noble woman like you."

"I lived the majority of my life around a smartass; you are going to have to try a lot harder than that to rile me up."

"Challenge accepted, now you might want to get out of here, I just heard the lunch bell ring and my own master should be here any moment. She might resend the order for me not to attack other familiars."

"Why would I leave after an invite like that? Maybe I want to see what you are capable of." Sure enough a few moments later the very girl she had been sent to watch came through the door to the roof.

"Archer are you still up…Watch out there is another servant behind you!"

"Where!" Both the servants spun around to look behind their backs. "There's nobody there," they said once again in unison.

"I am talking about her you idiot why are you just standing there?"

"You told me not to get into any trouble today Rin. Since you used that Command Seal to make me listen to your orders I had to wait for her to make the first move. All she wants to do is complain about how rough her master treats her in bed. I would rather be stuck being your maid again than this."

"I said no such thing!" Caster's face was going red with equal parts rage and embarrassment.

"I know but you challenged me. I couldn't let you get away unscathed."

"Great even in this life I get no peace from them."

"Would you mind telling me what you have really been up to today?"

"Sure thing, Shinji told me to look around the school for other servants and to spy on you if I got the chance. It appears that I have successfully completed my mission so now I can take a nap." Caster rifled through her pockets for a moment before pouting slightly. _'The Grail forgot to give me my favorite hammock. So much for it being an all powerful artifact. That thing was a gift.'_

"Isn't the point of spying to not be seen or tell those you are watching who you work for if you are caught?"

"I never said I was a very good spy. If he wanted a spy he should have summoned assassin instead. I'd be better off on the Vegas Strip than working as an undercover agent." Archer sighed and Rin had to massage her temples.

"Why are you telling us this? Surely you are hurting your chances at winning the Holy Grail. You could be telling us misinformation to mislead us."

"If you don't believe me wait about ten seconds. He is coming up the stairwell right now."

"Archer quickly go into your astral form." The sarcastic servant did as asked just as Shinji walked onto the roof. He quickly went from annoyed to furious when he saw who his familiar was ignoring him for, the one girl in the school who not only refused his advances, but made a fool out of him to boot.

"Caster what are you doing talking to her like that don't you know we're rivals."

"You told me to find out whatever I could about her. The easiest way to accomplish my goal is to actually talk to her master. I already found out that she likes the color red and has a very rude familiar named Archer."

"There are no witnesses up here right now I want you to get rid of her." Noticing Caster's lack of movement, Shinji further lost his temper. "I order you as your master to get rid of her right this instant." The book in his hands burst into flames as his Command Seal was consumed by his absolute order. Archer was not fast enough to stop Caster from grabbing Rin by the shoulder and disappearing with a crack like thunder. He was however quick enough to back-hand Shinji into the fence that surrounds the school roof with all the power of a pissed off servant. Needless to say the boy felt like he had been hit by a train. Archer called forth his faithful twin black and white swords and slowly stalked across the rooftop.

"Where did they go? If any harm becomes my master I will make you beg for death." He was interrupted by another much smaller crack. Standing in front of him was Caster wielding a lavender tinted sword that really bothered the red knight. He couldn't tell anything about the sword other than what he could see with his own eyes. Something like that should not have been possible.

"Rin is fine Archer I just popped her down to the little sports equipment shed over by the track. He ordered me to get rid of her not to harm her. He should have chosen his words more carefully. Now I am free from his control and my true master once again in charge. I want him to have to live with his failure."

Archer let his swords fade back into the nothing from where they sprung. "For not harming Rin I will consider us under a temporary truce. Next time we meet we will cross blades." Archer faded into his astral form before leaping over the fence and onto the ground below in the direction of the sports complex. Shortly thereafter, the lunch bell rang caster turned to address Shinji.

"You better get to class Shinji I don't imagine your teachers would like it much if you show up late to class. Near as I can tell Archer didn't break anything when he hit you so you should be fine. No get out of here before I break your other hand." Shinji got up on unsteady legs and made his way to the door. "One more thing, Sakura is my true master again. If you try to hurt her while I am not looking I will know. Such acts would greatly decrease your life expectancy." She faded from his view wearing a very predatory looking smile.

***BREAK***

After school and clubs let out Caster met up with Sakura to tell her about what had happened over the lunch period. Sakura expressed her thanks many times over for sparing her brother's life after he used up the Command Seal.

"You are welcome Sakura. I have been in plenty of battles but I still don't like killing unless someone really deserves it." That last comment made Sakura thing of some of the things that her 'family' had put her through over the last eleven years. If caster ever found out about them there is no telling what she would do. Some secretes are best kept that way.

"Caster once you are done walking me home would you come back up here and make sure Shirō makes it home safe too?"

"Abusing your new power already to protect your lover are you? I swear I read this plotline in a book I borrowed from a friend of mine. Then again I think that book was based off me and…" Sakura listened to her servant rant and mumble to herself about someone she must have been very close to once upon a time.

"Take care Sakura, I will see you as soon as I make sure this guy doesn't work his self to death. One more thing, when it is just the two of us please call me Louise."

***BREAK***

A short hop later brought Louise back to the school. 'I am glad I am reconnected to Sakura, all this teleporting can really take it out of a girl. Now let's see if I can find this guy.' She found Shirō in the school dojo putting a bucket of cleaning supplies into a closet, apparently just having finished cleaning the whole place. Louise couldn't help but admire his work ethic. It reminded her of simpler times.

At the boy was leaving the dojo towards the gate, Louise noticed a clashing of swords and the feeling of killing intent fill the air. She really hoped he would have enough sense to run away from the sounds of fighting. Sadly her hopes were poorly placed as he crept out to get a better look at the combatants. There were two servants clashing with inhuman speed and skill across the schoolyard. It looked to be the red Archer from earlier and another slightly smaller man in blue with a spear. 'That must be Lancer, now all I need to find are Saber, Assassin, Berserker, and Rider.'

Suddenly the action stopped and Lancer looked directly at Shirō before saying something to Archer and dashing towards the scared boy. To his credit he wasted no time running for the hills. Unfortunately he ran into the school building instead of towards the winding back streets where he would have been safer. Once Rin had directed Archer away to do something else Louise took off after Lancer and his prey. She hoped that the boy would be fast enough to get away on his own but against the quickest of the servants she had little hope for that happening.

***BREAK***

"Hey don't take this personal kid. My master told me that that I couldn't leave any witnesses and you happen to fit that category. I'll make it as quick and painless as I can." Lancer found his thrust thwarted by a sudden low grade explosion to the face. It wasn't enough to really harm someone with his magic resistance but the concussive force was enough to make him miss his target.

"Your fight is with me Lancer! Get out of here kid go home where you belong." Louise tucked her want back into its holster and drew her sword. Thankfully Shirō had enough sense to take the invitation to make a run for it while the crazy man in blue was distracted.

"Who the hell are you supposed to be? First an Archer who doesn't even have a bow and now a witch that fancies herself a swordsman? What is wrong with this crazy war? Why can't you people stick to your classes? "I'm Lancer guess what I use, a freaking lance. Is that really that hard?"

"Are you going to fight me or are you just going to stand there and whine like a mule?"

"Seeing as you are not going to let me go until I do, I suppose I am always up for a good fight. You better not disappoint me girl." Moving in with skill that only a great hero could ever hope to possess, Lancer hushed his new opponent. To his surprise, she was not the pushover he was expecting. Actually it was the complete opposite, this Caster was probably good enough to be summoned as a Saber. Being good enough to become a Heroic Spirit means you tend to pick up a few things over the years. This being the case, Lancer could tell when someone was only putting the absolute minimum into their attacks to not lose ground. His opponent was obviously not trying to beat him right now just hold him off long enough for that kid to escape. Either that boy was her master, or more likely someone important to her master.

Suddenly Louise got a sense that Sakura was in trouble and made one final leap away from Lancer. "I am sorry to cut our spar short Lancer but I am needed elsewhere." With that the woman suddenly just popped out of existence. Not went astral but completely F#9%&*G vanished. To relieve some of his stress he took off in the direction that that kid had run off to. The least he could do is finish one task tonight.

***BREAK***

Louise teleported into Sakura's room to find Shinji positioned, naked, over a barley clothed Sakura. The only thing keeping him from her was a thin pair of panties that he was currently struggling to remove. Literally arcing with barely contained rage, Louise grabbed the boy by the shoulder and threw him into the wall. She might be small but as a servant she still had greatly enhanced strength when compared to a normal human. The plaster on the wall was cracked in several places.

"You had better have a really good excuse for what you were just doing pal. It will be the difference between a painful death and an experience that would make you wish for death."

"That bitch has taken everything from me. I should be the one learning the family art not her. She isn't even part of this family we took her in from some other family when they didn't want to deal with her uselessness anymore. Now she has taken my spot in the Grail War from me too I deserve to take something back. The little slut likes it anyway. She is always wet and ready when I come to relieve some stress in her."

"First off I took your place in this little war from you not her so you should direct your fury at me not her. Sakura is there any truth in what he says? If there isn't there is nothing that will keep me from sending him into orbit. I hear the moon is nice this time of year."

"I don't want it but my body gets so hot sometimes that I can't help myself. There is something inside me that makes me impure. I don't want you to kill him though; I won't have anyone murder another because of me."

"That still doesn't make it any better. Tomorrow we are getting you out of this place. I don't know where I am going to take you but I will not have you stay here any longer. " Grabbing Shinji by the hair, the enraged servant dragged him throughout the old house looking for the old man. She eventually found him in the last place she ever wanted to have to reenter, the dungeon where she was summoned to this fight. Once she had blown open the locked door she tossed the still nude kid down the stairs ahead of her.

"What is the meaning of this intrusion into my workshop?"

"You are without a doubt the foulest people I have ever met. I know you aren't even remotely close to being completely human anymore old man. I have come to issue you an ultimatum.

"Is that so? What would that be?" The creepy geezer gave Louise what might have once been an attempt at a charming smile.

"You will give Sakura whatever monetary inheritance she would be entitled to upon your death and you will fill out the paperwork to have her emancipated by tomorrow when she gets through with school."

"And I fail to meet your demands what will you do?"

"I destroyed and entire navy invasion force with a single spell when I was a 17 year old girl. Imagine what I could do now."

"I am afraid that all your threats are nothing but empty threats, Sakura has in her something that I take much pride in. Most families have a single crest that they pass to a single heir of their accumulated knowledge. Most of the time the remaining children are brought up in ignorance of their history or they get adopted by another family. This is what happened with Sakura. She is not a Mato by birth but thanks to my Crest Worms I could still pass on our knowledge to her. That was eleven years ago. By this point the crest work has moved through her entire nervous system. If I die my last act will be to activate the Crest Worm and it will slowly and painfully consume the girl from the inside out."

"You are a very sick individual and you will meet my demands and remove that thing from her body or so help me you will regret ever having her drag me from the Throne."

"Even if I wanted to remove the Crest Worm from Sakura there is nothing I can do at this point. More of her nervous system is worm than her own systems. That and I don't want to. You don't live as long as I have by giving into petty threats."

"I will speak to you tomorrow. For your sake I hope you come to your senses by then." Louise left the dank hole deep in thought. She barely remembered to kick Shinji on her way to Sakura's room. Times like this were when she wished that she knew more than the most basic of healing spells. Despite excellent tutelage, she was never able to make much progress in magic outside the Void. Several pieces of expensive looking furniture met an untimely demise between the cellar and the girl's room.

While she slept, Sakura had the most vivid dreams of her life. Well not her life at all she told herself. These were flashes from the life of someone else they belonged to her servant. She almost felt like she was intruding on something she shouldn't be seeing but she couldn't help but keep watching. The last memory she caught a glimpse of was of a gathering of children outside a large medieval castle. The children were surrounded by all sorts of strange and wonderful creatures. Standing next to a large summoning circle was a very small pink haired girl that bore a striking resemblance to her caster. The girl said an incantation in a language that she couldn't understand and the circle erupted in a cloud of explosive smoke. The rest of the children burst out into laughter when they saw not a creature in the circle but a tall man in a trench coat and glasses. The man said something in what appeared to be English to the young Caster that only caused more laughter among the younger kids, a large breasted redhead being the most vocal. Sakura continued to watch as the small girl went through the motions of completing the ritual and sealed it with a kiss. The final thing she remembered as the dream ended was the whole collection of students either flying off or riding the larger creatures. Only the young Louise and the tall man remained behind to walk towards the castle.

**A/N- If you haven't figured it out by now this is a sort of parallel pseudo sequel to my FOZ story. This one will probably be updated much slower than the other story. I have been thinking of making this story since I started writing New Familiar, I just couldn't wait to actually finish the other. I don't expect to reveal anything that hasn't happened yet in the other story do don't get your hopes up about catching a spoiler. Any character development that happens in this story with Louise will be logically extrapolated from her life with her troublesome familiar. Sorry if I butchered the Fate mechanics too badly but this is fanfiction so I feel like I can get away with a few things. Feel free to drop a review or PM if there is a goof NP you think Louise should have. Since I have screwed with so much, I will be using a different Rider and Assassin. Feel free to throw in your two cents if you have a favorite hero, anti-hero, or villain that fits the mold. **


End file.
